Small Is Beautiful: Optimum Size Of American Apartments

Remember the McMansions? Size used to matter when it came to American homes and apartments.

America is one of the largest and most economically successful countries on the planet. As a result, it is no surprise that Americans have some of the largest homes in the world.

Even today a large home is a sign of success to some, which is why many people still have the dream of owning a “big house” or apartment.

Why Small Is Beautiful

However, for many reasons, this ideology is changing.

One motivation for downsizing to a smaller home or apartment is cost. Why pay for more space than you need?

Climate change and living with less are other reasons many Americans realize they can get by with possessions and don’t need that much space.

Big homes have a larger carbon footprint and cost more to heat or cool.

In New York, San Francisco and other hugely popular (and expensive) markets, more and more people are renting tiny or micro-apartments to save money or because they are all that’s available.

Did you know studio apartments shrunk by around 10% in the last decade?

For a decade or so new apartments grappled with size and they appeared to be getting smaller and smaller. It was a tough time for households moving and coming to terms with less space for all their stuff.

Today you could say new builds have found their optimum square footage having added up to 13 extra square feet for comfortable living.

How To Make Small Spaces More Livable

If you have an apartment that is smaller than you’d like, don’t worry, there are some things you can do to make it feel bigger. These include:

• Use mirrors, as they can make a room seem not only bigger but also brighter.
• Have small furniture. Large furniture simply takes up too much space.
• Get creative with your storage. Storage can be difficult when in a small apartment but doesn’t need to be impossible. Storage furniture, quality cabinets, and using your vertical space can all be great ways to get more storage.
• Utilize large pieces of art on the wall.

Optimum Size?

A Studio apartment may be 400–600 square feet for solo renters, minimalists who can live in one open space

Where as a one bedroom apartment fit for singles or couples may be 600–800 square feet.

Larger apartments up with two or more bedrooms may be as large as 1500 square feet or more.

The average across all U.S. rentals is about 900 square feet. However newer apartments hover around 908–916 square feet.

Not Ready For Small

Throughout the 70s, 80s and recent decades, the trend was for apartments to get larger and larger, so there is a lot of stock out there for those who need or want more space.

For now there are many cities that have yet to see the mass move to small new builds. Their have older apartments or condos that are much larger have not been razed to the ground in favor of micro units and studio apartments. For example a move to Orlando, Charlotte, Dallas will reward you with homes and apartments with much larger footprints.

Additionally head to less established or less popular cities in many southern, southeastern or midwestern states, you are still likely to find a lot of larger apartments that are available to rent.

Final Thoughts

While the trend is undoubtedly to build and rent smaller apartments, single-family homes after decades of growth, have also begun downsizing due to cost pressures.

Apartment needed to find their optimum size so after shrinking for several years, they’re trending upward in size again, especially in urban areas where renter demand for more livable space is rising.